Syrian President Bashar Assad will pay an official visit to Russia by the end of the year, according to a report by the Syrian official news agency (SANA) on Sunday.

The agency quoted Russian Minister of Industry and Technology, Alexander Donov, who was in Damascus Saturday, as saying that Assad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will hold talks “on the regional developments and bilateral relations.”

The Syrian president will also head a delegation to the meetings of the Syrian-Russian Committee, said the agency.

Syrian press on Sunday highlighted Donov’s visit, reporting that the visiting official conveyed a message from Putin to Assad that called for reinforcing the 50-year-old relations between the two countries.